Vocal congruence in mother-infant play

Turn-taking is the fundamental temporal structure of adult dialogue. This structure defines two types of joint silence: intrapersonal pause (silence bounded by the vocalizations of a single speaker) and switching pause (silence bounded by the vocalizations of different speakers). Switching pauses mark the boundaries of the turn exchange. In adult conversation the mean durations of both types of pause are characteristically matched between partners. This matching, termed vocal congruence, occurs developmentally earlier in the case of switching pauses. We hypothesized and confirmed that mothers and infants match switching pauses but not intrapersonal pauses at 4 months, even though the infants' vocalizations are prelinguistic. Second, since there are known affective correlates of vocal congruence in adult conversation, we hypothesized a similar affective correlate for mother-infant vocal congruence. We found, for the intrapersonal pause only, that the degree of matching within a dyad correlated with infant affective engagement. We conclude, from switching pause congruence, that a turntaking dialogic structure is being regulated in the mother-infant pair at 4 months in the same way as seen in adult conversation. Thus, both the temporal structure of adult dialogue and its affective correlate are prelinguistic.Supported in part by NIMH grant No. 41675.     

Mutual visual regard during mother-infant play.

Mutual visual regard was observed in 48 mother-infant dyads during a 6-min. play session. Infant-mother dyads containing 4 mo. -olds displayed significantly more mutual visual regard than dyads containing 6- or 8-mo.-olds. In addition, the more time infants spent in face-to-face interaction with mother, the more smiling they engaged in. No sex difference were observed.     

Maternal scaffolding behavior: links with parenting style and maternal education

The purpose of this study was to specify the relationship between positive and harsh parenting and maternal scaffolding behavior. A 2nd aim was to disentangle the effects of maternal education and parenting quality, and a 3rd aim was to test whether parenting quality mediated the association between maternal education and scaffolding practices. We examined associations between positive and harsh parenting practices and contingent and noncontingent tutoring strategies. Ninety-six mother-child dyads (49 boys, 47 girls) from working- and middle-class English families participated. Mothers reported on parenting quality at Time 1 when children were 5 years old and again approximately 5 years later at Time 2. Mother-child pairs were observed working together on a block design task at Time 2, and interactions were coded for contingent (contingent shifting) and noncontingent (fixed failure feedback) dimensions of maternal scaffolding behavior. Positive and harsh parenting accounted for variance in contingent behavior over and above maternal education, whereas only harsh parenting accounted for unique variance in noncontingent scaffolding practices. Our findings provide new evidence for a more differentiated model of the relation between general parenting quality and specific scaffolding behaviors.     

Maternal depression and locus of control orientation as predictors of dyadic play behavior

Maternal locus of control orientation and depression were examined in relation to joint negotiation and coordination of mother-child play at 20 months. Subjects were 51 high-social-risk mothers and children. Mothers completed the I-E Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory prenatally and at 20 months; mother-child interaction was videotaped in a laboratory playroom at 20 months. Tapes were coded using the Control-Autonomy Balance Scales to evaluate maternal control and sensitivity and child engagement and autonomy. Analyses of dyadic play behavior indicated that maternal controllingness was related to an external locus of control orientation. Child engagement during play was related to the resolution of mild maternal depression.     

Masculinity-femininity and perceptual style on the Circles Test

In relation to the open perceptual style characteristics a classification of responses to the Torrance's Circles Test provided a measure of psychosexual identification. To the initial stimulus inner-spaced and outer-spaced responses can be interpreted as feminine and masculine styles of information processing. The observations were validated by the Mf scale of the MMPI. Masculine women gave fewer inner-space responses than masculine men, and feminine men gave more inner-space responses than feminine women.     

Maternal style of emotional expression

This research describes the development of a semantic differential technique for rating nonverbal style of expressiveness in a population of expectant mothers. Nonverbal features (facial expression, gesture, voice quality) were emphasized as uniquely valid indices of emotional reactions towards parenthood and as the principal forms of interpersonal stimulation to which preverbal infants would be exposed. In the final trimester of pregnancy 46 primiparous mothers, representing a range of age, ethnic, and social-class backgrounds, were interviewed on videotape discussing childhood, marital adjustment, and expectations about parenthood. Interview selections were then presented to judges under three stimulus conditions: total videotape, videotrack, or audiotrack. Each mother's expressive style was rated on 12 bipolar adjective scales pertaining to affective tone, energy level, and involvement. Analyses demonstrated significant associations between nonverbal expressive style variables and measures of parent and child functioning over the first 2 years of life.     

Maternal postnatal psychiatric symptoms and infant temperament affect early mother-infant bonding

Postnatal mother-infant bonding refers to the early emotional bond between mothers and infants. Although some factors, such as maternal mental health, especially postnatal depression, have been considered in relation to mother-infant bonding, few studies have investigated the role of infant temperament traits in early bonding. In this study, the effects of maternal postnatal depressive and anxiety symptoms and infant temperament traits on mother-infant bonding were examined using both mother and father reports of infant temperament. Data for this study came from the first phase of the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (n = 102, father reports n = 62). After controlling for maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety, mother-reported infant positive emotionality, measured by infant smiling was related to better mother-infant bonding. In contrast, infant negative emotionality, measured by infant distress to limitations was related to lower quality of bonding. In regards to father-report infant temperament, only infant distress to limitations (i.e., frustration/anger) was associated with lower quality of mother-infant bonding. These findings underline the importance of infant temperament as one factor contributing to early parent-infant relationships, and counseling parents in understanding and caring for infants with different temperament traits.     

Spatial ability in classic dancers and their perceptual style

The relation between spatial ability (body orientation and body awareness) and field dependence/independence was assessed by measuring performance on the Embedded Figures Test and WISC or WAIS Block Design at four different training levels in classical ballet, beginners to advanced, and a control group with no training in ballet, gymnastics, or sports (n = 70). No significant correlation was found between perceptual style or Block Design performance and body orientation or body awareness at any of the four levels of training. No significant differences were observed between the advanced group and the control group. Training in a particular type of spatial skill such as orientation within surrounding space was not related to the skill required to manipulate an abstractly represented space.     

Self-stimulatory behavior and perceptual reinforcement.

Self-stimulatory behavior is repetitive, stereotyped, functionally autonomous behavior seen in both normal and developmentally disabled populations, yet no satisfactory theory of its development and major characteristics has previously been offered. We present here a detailed hypothesis of the acquisition and maintenance of self-stimulatory behavior, proposing that the behaviors are operant responses whose reinforcers are automatically produced interoceptive and exteroceptive perceptual consequences. The concept of perceptual stimuli and reinforcers, the durability of self-stimulatory behaviors, the sensory extinction effect, the inverse relationship between self-stimulatory and other behaviors, the blocking effect of self-stimulatory behavior on new learning, and response substitution effects are discussed in terms of the hypothesis. Support for the hypothesis from the areas of sensory reinforcement and sensory deprivation is also reviewed. Limitations of major alternative theories are discussed, along with implications of the perceptual reinforcement hypothesis for the treatment of excessive self-stimulatory behavior and for theoretical conceptualizations of functionally related normal and pathological behaviors.     

Maternal attitudes during pregnancy predict mother-infant physical proximity six months after birth

The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument for assessing maternal attitudes. Three photographs representing infants or mother-infant dyads were presented to 26 mothers in the second half of pregnancy and six months after birth. Nine mothers were clinical cases, seventeen mothers were nonpathological controls. Thirty-three semantic categories were used to code the mothers' responses to the pictures. Mothers' responses were coded independently by two researchers. The factor analysis of the codes yielded an ‘attraction to, vs rejection of, children’ factor. Compared with the control group, the mean factor score of the clinical group was significantly lower, i. e. reflected less attraction (p < 0.01). To study the relation between the attraction factor and the physical proximity of mothers and infants, 21 of these mother-infant dyads were videotaped in a semi-structured play interaction six months after birth. Recordings were coded independently by two researchers for various indices of proximity (spatial proximity, kisses, embraces, touches). The factor analysis of the codes yielded a factor contrasting distant vs close and tender interaction. A significant correlation was found between the attraction scores of pregnant women and the proximity scores of mother-infant interaction (r = 0.46; p < 0.05). These results suggest that this instrument is useful in assessing maternal attitudes of psychiatrically disturbed pregnant women and that maternal attitudes of pregnant women are significant predictors of physical proximity in motherinfant interaction at the end of the first semester.     

Field dependency: cognitive style or perceptual skill?

This study was designed to determine which information-processing elements are embodied in the Group Embedded Figures Tests as well as other representative measures of cognitive style. An alpha factoring method indicated the presence of two major factors. It was concluded that field-dependency primarily represents individual variation in perceptual preference patterns rather than the traditionally defined behavioral styles.     

Maternal speech style with prelinguistic twin infants

The mother–infant communicative speech of a group of mothers of 4‐month‐old first‐born twin infants was compared to the speech of a group of mothers of first‐born singleton infants. Maternal groups were matched on age, education level, mother–infant attachment status and infant gender, and maternal depression was assessed as a control variable. Maternal speech was coded for focus, content, complexity and syntax of mothers' utterances. The findings of earlier studies with toddler age twins, that maternal speech style was more directive and less infant‐focused, were replicated in this prelinguistic period of infancy. Compared to mothers of singletons, mothers of twins used less infant‐focused speech, were less responsive to their infants' cues, and attributed less agency to their infants. Mothers of twins also used fewer questions and requests but did not differ from mothers of singletons in their use of negatives and imperatives. These early differences in the language learning environments of twin and singleton infants may be due to the reduced opportunities that mothers of twins have to establish dyadic communicative routines with their infants and to familiarize themselves with their infants as interactive partners, and may have implications for the early language development of twins. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.